Bittu Tabahi cleaned MP’s polluted Ajnar River by hand for months; now Dutch CEO says ‘come work for us’

A river cleanup effort by 20-year-old Surendra Singh Choudhary, popularly known online as Bittu Tabahi, has drawn international attention after Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of Netherlands-based non-profit The Ocean Cleanup, invited him to join the organisation. Bittu, a Biaora resident, has spent months removing plastic, bottles, algae and other waste from the polluted Ajnar River.

The BSc student began the cleanup on January 26, 2026, working without a large team or sophisticated equipment. He physically cleared waste from stretches of the river, documented the changes and shared videos of the work on social media.

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How Bittu Tabahi started cleaning the Ajnar River

Bittu’s real name is Surendra Singh Choudhary, and reports identify him as a resident of Biaora in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district. His efforts involved manually removing accumulated waste from the Ajnar River and recording the transformation through before-and-after visuals.

His posts eventually attracted attention beyond his hometown. The visibility also led to criticism from some people who questioned whether the cleanup was primarily being undertaken for social-media views. Bittu continued documenting the work despite the criticism.

Boyan Slat’s three-word invitation

The major turning point came after an X post highlighted Bittu’s cleanup efforts and showed images of the river before and after the intervention.

The post caught the attention of Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, who responded with a brief invitation: “Come work for us.”

Slat’s comment quickly gained traction online, with social-media users describing it as a potentially life-changing opportunity for Bittu.

However, the public invitation does not amount to a confirmed appointment. No verified information has been publicly released about a job title, salary, joining date or other employment terms.

The Ocean Cleanup’s focus on plastic pollution

The potential connection between Bittu and The Ocean Cleanup stems from the organisation’s work on plastic pollution in oceans and rivers. According to its official website, the Netherlands-based non-profit aims to achieve a 90% reduction in floating ocean plastic by 2040 and also works to prevent plastic from reaching the sea.

The issue is particularly relevant in the context of river pollution in India. A Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) assessment identified 351 polluted river stretches across 323 rivers using water-quality data from 2016 and 2017.

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Anand Mahindra had earlier backed Bittu’s work

Bittu had attracted attention in India even before Slat’s message. Industrialist Anand Mahindra had previously noticed his work and defended him amid criticism over his social-media activity.

Mahindra said that if the pursuit of “likes” could be turned into a force for good, it was not necessarily a bad thing. He also described Bittu as his #MondayMotivation.

Bittu’s story has since drawn attention to an unusual way of using social media: documenting hands-on environmental work while bringing visibility to a river cleanup effort that began locally.